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    Fields of Fire
    Fields of Fire
    Fields of Fire
    Audiobook17 hours

    Fields of Fire

    Written by James Webb

    Narrated by Sean Runnette

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    They each had their reasons for being a soldier.

    They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo-Death Before Dishonor-before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.

    They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire . . .

    Fields of Fire is James Webb's classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell-until each man finds his fate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 3, 2013
    ISBN9781452683539
    Fields of Fire
    Author

    James Webb

    James Webb, former senator from Virginia, has been a combat marine, a committee counsel in the Congress, an assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy, an Emmy Award–winning journalist, a filmmaker, and the author of ten books. Mr. Webb has six children and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Hong Le, who was born in Vietnam and is a graduate of Cornell Law School.

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    Reviews for Fields of Fire

    4/5

    131 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is a gritty, great war story. I don’t know why it’s rated so low on here. If you like the tone of the movie Platoon, you’d love this one
    • 5/5
      This book is great. I don’t think it deserves the low rating on here. It’s got good characters, good action, if you like war stories don’t pass this one up
    • 5/5
      Was very pleased with listening to this book would highly recommend
    • 4/5
      Quite a realistic and moving account of what it was like for Marines serving in Vietnam in the 1960s.
    • 3/5
      Robert Lee Hodges, Jr. joins the marines in keeping with his family history of serving in the military. It was said that if there were no Vietnam, he'd have to invent it.We learn about Hodges doing well in Marine officer training and shipped to Vietnam. Once there he's stationed "in country" and we meet the rest of his unit.James Webb does a nice job in describing the hell that was Vietnam and still give us a feel for the men who fought and died there.Snake, named for his tattoo has a low level job. One day he sees the Marine motto, "Death Before Dishonor" and has it tattooed and then joins the Marines. His fearlessness and leadership of the unit in a main part of the story.Will Goodrich was the college man. While many friends were running to Canada or going to grad school to escape the draft, Will leaves Harvard and joins up. It is from his point of view that we see many of the battle scenes and the death and injury that surrounds the unit and what it can do to a person.These men and others are surrounded by enemies. Is the farmer in the nearby village, really a farmer or VC? It's impossible to tell.Sgt Austin joins the unit and wants to bring it the spit and polish that works in the states but is rediculous in front line action. During one battle, one of his men has had enough and flips a grenade near enough to injure the sgt. and remove him from the unit, but not kill him.It is difficult to comprehend the death and inhumanity that surrounds these men who are really just out of high school in many cases. Webb does it well. The novel has been compared to "All Quiet on the Western Front" and like that novel, does well in telling the horrors of war.